Gov. Brown OKs Plastic Bag Ban in California

Gov. Jerry Brown made history on Tuesday by signing SB270, making California the first state in the U.S. to impose a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores.

In an effort to reduce pollution throughout the state, the ban will go into effect in July 2015 for larger grocery stores and pharmacies, while smaller convenience and liquor stores will not have to impose the law until 2016.

The law allows stores to charge a 10-cent fee for reusable or paper bags in order to make up for higher manufacturing costs attributed to the plastic bag ban.

While California is the first state to impose such a law, it is not the first government to do so, as hundreds of cities and counties, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, have already legalized bans of their own.

Paper and plastic bag manufacturers greatly opposed the legislation, airing commercials in California that claimed that the law simply served as another moneymaking tactic for grocers.

The American Progressive Bag Alliance believes that the statewide ban will result in a loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs throughout the industry.

Immediately after Gov. Brown signed the bill, a national coalition of plastic bag manufacturers said it would take action to repeal the law as soon as possible, according to the Associated Press.